Crain's Grand Rapids Business, January 13, 2025

Commercial development projects to watch in 2025

Several highly anticipated projects are getting their start this year

By Kate Carlson

Many consequential largescale commercial developments across West Michigan are expected to break ground, make progress or nish construction in 2025.

ese highly anticipated proj-

ects include mixed-use apartment buildings, adaptive reuse developments, historic renovations and the creation of new entertainment venues.

Here is a far-from-comprehensive look at a few of the major projects Crain’s Grand Rapids Business is monitoring this year.

Acrisure Amphitheater

Location: 201 Market Ave. SW, Grand Rapids

Architect: Progressive Companies

Construction manager: Pioneer Construction and Barton Malow

Court’s reversal pauses ownership reporting rule

Fate of the Corporate Transparency Act now awaiting appeal from the government

By Andy Balaskovitz

A federal appeals court has reversed course to reinstate a nationwide halt to a law requiring companies to disclose details on their ownership.

On Dec. 26, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, La., vacated its Dec. 23 order that would have reinstated the government’s ability to enforce the Corporate Transparency Act in mid-January 2025.

e decision allows a lower court ruling placing an injunction on the Corporate Transparency Act to stand pending the government’s appeal.

cial ownership reports, you can wait to do so,” Honigman wrote.

“If you have complex or substantial reporting obligations, you should be ready to le bene cial ownership reports should the injunction be lifted.”

Attorneys with Grand Rapids-based Varnum LLP called the last-minute reversal order an “abrupt about-face” that appears to have come after the

“If you have not led bene cial ownership reports, you can wait to do so.”

Detroit-based Honigman LLP issued an alert on Dec. 27 stating that the rm expects the injunction to remain in place until at least March 25, 2025, when the court hears oral arguments. Honigman attorneys cited the Fifth Circuit Court’s order that it reversed course to preserve the “constitutional status quo” while arguments are considered.

Detroit-based Honigman LLP

case was reassigned from one three-judge panel considering the government’s motion to stay the lower court’s injunction to another panel at the Fifth Circuit that’s considering the merits of the case.

“Once the case was assigned to the merits panel, however, the judges on that panel (whose

REVERSAL on Page 18 See DEVELOPMENT on Page 16

Mike VanGessel stepping down

CEO at Rockford Construction, West Michigan’s largest construction rm, leaves after 37 years; longtime exec Shane Napper takes over

By Kate Carlson

Rockford Construction Co.’s longtime CEO Mike VanGessel has stepped away from leading the rm he co-founded in 1987.

Shane Napper, who has served as the Grand Rapids-based rm’s president and chief operating ofcer and has been at Rockford for

27 years, took over as CEO on Jan. 1 and will also retain his title as president. Executives plan to name a new COO from within the company next month.

Executives at West Michigan’s largest construction rm have been working on a leadership succession plan since 2019.

“Rockford is so much more

than a business. It’s a family,” VanGessel said in a statement. “I am honored to have built and led this team for nearly 40 years and grateful to so many who mentored me along the way. e opportunity to support our Rockford team in achieving their

VANGESSEL on Page 17

“If you have not led bene -

Michigan shouldn’t overbuild its power grid for potential data centers PAGE 3 FOOD & DRINK

Downtown Grand Rapids restaurant scene continues to evolve PAGE 4

ESTATE Residential projects to watch across the region PAGE 6

Work continues on Acrisure Amphitheater in downtown Grand Rapids. COURTESY PHOTO

Mike VanGessel has stepped down as the longtime CEO of Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction. COURTESY PHOTO

Vacation home market could be stabilizing

Luxury sector likely to be unaffected by interest rates due to all-cash deals

By Rachel Watson

Realtors expect a good year for the West Michigan vacation homes market in 2025, driven by the continued popularity of Lake Michigan frontage, low water levels and transformative developments underway in several tourist towns.

According to a Dec. 4 Redfin forecast, home sales across the U.S. are expected to tick up anywhere between 2% and 9% next year, largely because of pent-up

demand. At the same time, Redfin predicts the median U.S. home price will rise 4% this year as inventory continues to lag demand.

A similar Realtor.com report forecasts home prices will inch up 3.7% this year, with an 11.7% yearover-year increase in inventory. Still, annual inventory is 23% short of what it was in 2017-19, according to Realtor.com. In 2023, annual inventory was 40% short of 2017-19 levels.

Although Realtor.com predicts interest rates will decrease to 6.2%

by the end of the year, down from an average of 6.8% last month, local Realtors say the luxury market is likely to remain largely unaffected by interest rates, as all-cash purchases remain common at higher price tiers.

Lauri Sisson, Realtor and co-owner of Michigan Homes and Cottages/Coldwell Banker Woodland Schmidt in Park Township, said 2024 saw “more and more people” finding out about the

Experts: Don’t overbuild grid for potential data centers

say Michigan can handle extra power

and the risk of stranded costs if plans don’t come to fruition is real |

Michigan’s top energy regulator is unconcerned about potential electricity shortages or strains on the power grid to accommodate an influx of large data centers. Instead, he’s concerned about overbuilding for them.

Dan Scripps, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission, agrees that the potential buildout of hyper-scale data centers and demand for large amounts of around-the-clock electricity present unique challenges for utilities and regulators.

While he says Michigan’s power grid could handle the demand, problems could arise for utility customers if development plans never fully materialize after utilities have invested in infrastructure to support them.

In such a scenario, overbuilding

“If you build a whole power plant anticipating that Microsoft comes to town, then other customers are left holding the bag in the current regulatory scheme.”

the power grid could create

“stranded costs” that are forced on all other ratepayers.

“My biggest concern through all of this is the risk of stranded costs,”

WhiteWater starts review process for rapids restoration

new phase’s focus will be on river’s upper reach, between Sixth Street Bridge and Bridge Street

By Mark Sanchez

The group that’s been working for 15 years to restore the Grand River’s rapids through downtown will begin planning for the upper reaches of the project after securing a state permit.

That phase will seek to restore the rapids on the river’s upper reach, from the Sixth Street Bridge south to just north of Bridge Street.

The city of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids WhiteWater will work with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission beginning this month on a separate permit process for the river’s upper reach, Grand Rapids WhiteWater Executive Director Matt Chapman told Crain’s.

By Andy Balaskovitz

said Scripps, who Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed to the MPSC nearly six years ago. “It’s one thing for a data center to show up and say, ‘I need 3-4 gigawatts of power.’ If we go out and build that, are they going to show up and do exactly what was anticipated or expected?”

That could include data centers building smaller than anticipated, or potentially leaving for markets that might have more favorable electric rates after “we built these 40-year assets to serve them,” Scripps added.

Those investments to support data centers will likely include both transmission and new generation to meet the power load growth. Under Michigan’s

Chapman expects a two-year environmental impact review process for the upper reach, which could include removing the Sixth Street dam and building a new adjustable structure about a mile upstream, toward Ann Street, and a barrier to prevent sea lampreys from getting upriver.

The review process for the up-

per reach will look at “any alternative,” including the cost to repair the existing structure, building a new low-head dam, and any new barrier technology for sea lampreys.

“Hopefully, halfway through that process we’ll actually start to have some design alternatives and be able to start putting some realistic cost estimates together for what that upper reach will look like,” Chapman said.

The city of Grand Rapids on Dec. 23 announced that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy issued a key permit needed to start the project, which includes removing four dams and installing about 20,000 tons of natural rock and boulders in the river from just north of Bridge Street and south to Fulton Street.

The city expects to seek bids for the project this winter. Construction on the lower reach, with a cost estimate of $15 million to $17 million, could start by July and take two seasons to complete, Chapman said.

Douglas Jester, managing partner at 5 Lakes Energy

Rendering of Grand River restoration plans near the Pearl Street bridge in downtown Grand Rapids. | GranD raPIDS WHITEWaTEr

Downtown restaurant scene continues to evolve

2024 saw new options for local diners – and some losses – with exciting new venues on the horizon

By Abby Poirier

As skyline-shaping housing developments and transformative projects like an amphitheater and soccer stadium drive downtown development, Grand Rapids’ restaurant scene is responding with new openings and fresh concepts.

While employee traffic downtown remains well below pre-pandemic levels, a slew of new developments are giving a boost to the downtown rebound, which is led by a growing residential population.

That’s according to Bill Kirk, director of communications for Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., who said the city is “encouraged by the progress” post-pandemic.

According to a November report by DGRI, 19 new storefront businesses opened in 2024 in downtown Grand Rapids, 32% of which were bars or restaurants. That said, 58% of the city’s 12 storefront closures fit into the food and beverage category.

Despite the downturn, Kirk pointed toward an increase in residential activity as a positive indicator for the downtown restaurant scene.

According to DGRI data, residential activity increased 39% in November 2024 when compared with November 2019, and jumped 41% year-over-year.

“We’re seeing the trajectory of residential activity and population just continue to increase steadily, year over year,” Kirk said. “We do see that as a trend that we anticipate to continue as more people move downtown.”

Kirk also noted that several new openings this year, such as Gin Gin’s and Gimme’s Par and Grill, activated new spaces that had previously sat unoccupied downtown.

“We definitely are still learning what the new reality post-COVID is,” Kirk said. “It’s difficult to predict what we’ll see in 2025, but in general, the excitement we’ve seen about these new offerings and these new concepts I believe bodes well for downtown in general.”

Here’s a look at the downtown restaurants that are coming online next year, projects that recently opened, and places that have closed over the past 12 months.

COMING SOON

Allora, 201 Monroe Ave. NW

Upscale wine bar and restaurant Reserve Wine and Food closed temporarily in May for renovations, after 14 years of service. The Windquest Group, the family office for Dick and Betsy DeVos, announced last summer that the restaurant would be reopening under a new concept, Allora, an upscale coastal Italian concept focused on authentic cuisine. While Allora was initially slated to open

in fall 2024, work on the restaurant is still underway and the owner has yet to set a date for the grand reopening, according to a spokesperson.

Poke Toki, 146 Monroe Center St. NW Ste 160

A new location for Poke Toki, a locally-owned poke bowl restaurant, is expected to open on the ground floor of McKay Tower in the coming weeks. The location, formerly occupied by quick-serve restaurant Freshii, will be Poke Toki’s third location in West Michigan and its first downtown. The 2,300-square-foot restaurant will offer create your own or pre-designed Korean, Japanese and Hawaiian-style poke bowls. While owner John Chang has yet to set an open date, he told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business that he anticipates opening the restaurant by the end of January.

Garden District, 55 Monroe Center St. NW

After purchasing Vietnamese restaurant Monsoon, new owners Raphael and Jessica Jones are planning a New Orleans-inspired Creole concept to take its place. The restaurant, Garden District, will focus on Cajun-Creole fusion, offering classic New Orleans fare like gumbo, etouffee, muffuletta sandwiches, beans and rice and a variety of po’ boy sandwiches. As well, a cocktail menu will offer classic New Orleans drinks like the hurricane, Sazerac, daiquiris and a coffee martini.

The Joneses have yet to set an opening date for the restaurant, which they plan to open in early 2025.

RECENT OPENINGS

Rev: Road to Revitalize Juice Bar, 125 Ottawa Ave. NW Ste 120

Luxury juice bar Rev: Road to Revitalize opened on Sept. 12, offering cold-pressed juice drinks and acai bowls. The juice bar, owned by certified nutritionist Shardaira Jones, was first announced in November 2023, two years after Jones first launched the business. Jones told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business that her goal has always been to open a brick-andmortar shop and build a new brand of juice bar in Grand Rapids, one that doesn’t sacrifice glamor for health and nutrition.

Rapid River Stillhouse, 401 Stocking Ave. NW

In 2022, Rapid River Beverage Co., then called Sip Shine, purchased the three-story west side building to create a Nashville-inspired bar and restaurant with a rooftop bar. After two years of renovations, the bar and restaurant opened Sept. 26 as Rapid River Stillhouse. The restaurant seats more than 400 for Rapid River whiskey tastings and Southern cuisine-inspired lunch and din-

ner. As well, Rapid River Stillhouse holds regular live music events.

Sovengard, 1232 Bridge St. NW

Following a two-year, $3 million relocation and build-out process, Scandinavian-inspired restaurant Sovengard reopened on Bridge Street on July 16. The 5,000-squarefoot restaurant seats approximately 200 customers for farm-to-table fare sourced from West Michigan farmers. The new restaurant also boasts a 4,000-square-foot biergarten and an indoor market selling produce and locally-made goods. Sovengard relocated from 442 Bridge St. NW., where it opened in 2016. The initial restaurant closed in late 2022 after outgrowing the space. Sovengard recently scaled back its hours of operation and let go some staff after a slow restart for the restaurant.

Gin Gin’s, 345 Summer Ave. NW

Upscale steak and seafood restaurant Gin Gin’s, owned by Butcher’s Union and O’Toole’s Public House operators Dave and Paul Rienert, opened its doors on May 30. The new west side restaurant seats 80 people indoors for classic American fare, including pasta, fresh seafood, wagyu and prime steaks alongside a full cocktail and wine menu.

Gimme’s Par and Grill, 45 Ottawa Ave. NW

Indoor golf and sports bar

Gimme’s Par and Grill opened its doors downtown on Nov. 15, offering space for 60 golfers to play all season long at nine golf simulator bays. The two-story restaurant and entertainment center includes dining space for 125 guests, bars on both floors and access to approximately 300 virtual golf cours-

es and a variety of other game types for players of all ages.

Big Mini Putt Club, 70 Ionia Ave. SW

A Chicago indoor mini golf club moved into the Grand Rapids area this fall, filling an 8,000-squarefoot space on Ionia Avenue. Big Mini Putt Club opened Oct. 2, featuring an approximately 3,000-square-foot, 10-hole course inspired by the Grand Rapids area, retro arcade games, a full bar and dining space. The downtown Grand Rapids golf club is the third location for founder Nick Jenkins, who called the concept “an attempt to rekindle that magic of childhood and tap into the nostalgia.” The course is inspired by Grand Rapids and includes Easter Eggs for locals.

PERMANENT CLOSURES

Forty Pearl, 40 Pearl St. NW, Ste 110

Wine bar and restaurant Forty Pearl closed permanently on Aug. 17, seven years after opening as a satellite tasting room for Traverse City-based Brengman Brothers Winery. The restaurant did not disclose the reason for the abrupt closure, which it announced in an August social media post. In addition to wine made by Brengman Brothers, Forty Pearl served lunch and dinner alongside beer and cocktails.

Maru Sushi, 415 Bridge St. NW

Maru Sushi’s Bridge Street location closed on Aug. 18 “after much deliberation,” according to a social media post. The location was one of six Maru Sushi locations throughout the state. Maru Sushi’s Bridge Street restaurant seat-

ed 120 customers and offered a range of classic sushi, signature rolls, nigiri and sashimi options, as well as Japanese fusion dishes, signature cocktails, mocktails and a variety of sake flavors. Maru Sushi’s Cherry Street location is its only remaining restaurant in the city. The company said the Bridge Street location closure was “the best decision to better care for our team and guests, allowing us to focus our efforts more intentionally on one location in this region.”

Stan’s Tacos, 67 Ottawa Ave. SW

Stan’s Tacos in downtown Grand Rapids closed after less than three years in operation. Restaurant operator Meritage Hospitality Group Inc. tried “a variety of service models and other initiatives” to make the location work, according to a company representative. The restaurant, which opened in November 2021, was the third addition for the franchise in as many years. Stan’s Tacos serves casual, American-style tacos and a variety of margaritas. The downtown location closed in late January.

Pide

and Stick, 428 Bridge St. NW

Only four months after opening as the concept’s flagship location, Pide and Stick closed its doors on Dec. 8. The 5,000-square-foot fast-casual restaurant served classic Mediterranean dishes alongside a selection of local beers and a full cocktail menu. The Bridge Street location, which seated 227 people, was Mission Restaurant Group’s first Pide & Stick restaurant, taking the place of its Jolly Pumpkin brewpub concept that formerly operated in the space.

The bar area inside the new Gimme’s Par and Grill at 45 Ottawa Ave. NW. | ABBy POIRIER, CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

The Sovengard’s new restaurant space officially reopened in July. | ABBy POIRIER, CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

Gin’s at 345 Summer

CARLSON, CRAIN‘S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

Work-in-progress photo of the downstairs tasting room area at Rapid River Stillhouse. | COURTESy PHOTO

Residential projects are flourishing in West Michigan

By Rachel Watson

West Michigan’s residential real estate developers have a slew of projects underway in communities across the region, many of which haven’t seen large-scale development in decades.

Using new state gap financing tools like the recently expanded brownfield tax increment financing law and various new grant and loan programs, developers in 2024 launched projects that are expected to change the face of downtowns, dying commercial areas, disinvested neighborhoods and rural suburbs alike.

Many of the projects will add affordable or workforce housing at a time when those product types are sorely lacking.

In alphabetical order, here is a far-from-comprehensive list of Crain’s top residential projects to watch in 2025. Together they’ll add nearly 1,400 units across metro Grand Rapids and the lakeshore:

Coit Flats

Number of units: 72

Location: 4959 and 4965 Plainfield Ave. NE in Plainfield Township Developer/general contractor: Cascade Township-based Veneklasen Construction

Architect: Grand Rapids-based R2 Design Group

Cost: $15.9 million, supported by up to $4.7 million in brownfield tax increment financing

Estimated completion: Late 2026

Veneklasen Construction’s three-building apartment project announced in October is the first new residential project hatched along Plainfield Avenue under the township’s three-year-old “Reimagine Plainfield” plan to revitalize the outdated and vehicle-centric retail corridor.

It’s also only the second Plainfield Township project to receive the go-ahead to seek brownfield TIF incentives under the new legislation that added “missing middle/workforce housing” development as an eligible activity for state and local tax capture reimbursements.

Veneklasen plans to reserve 20% of the units (15) for households making 120% or less of area median income. Coit Flats calls for a mix of one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 675 to 890 square feet.

“This is a perfect location for a project like this,” Plainfield Township Deputy Superintendent Jen DeHaan said in the fall. “The area is underutilized and blighted, and it’s been that way for 20-plus years.”

CEO Chris Veneklasen said his firm hopes to break ground on the project in the spring.

Dutton Center

Number of units: 238

Location: 3316 68th St. SE in Gaines Township

Developer/builder/architect: Allen

Edwin Homes

Cost: Undisclosed

Estimated completion: 2030

A small southeastern Kent County enclave that hasn’t seen new housing development in decades — and nothing on this scale — may get hundreds more units of housing and a “village center” over the next five years.

Portage-based Allen Edwin Homes plans to break ground next summer on the first phase of a five-phase project called Dutton Center. It is eyed for a 29-acre parcel of former farmland in the unincorporated village of Dutton, which was founded in 1870 as a railroad stop in Gaines Township.

Plans call for 48 for-rent attached townhouses and 14 detached rental “veranda” homes in phase one, and 51 single-family for-sale homes in phase two. The third phase calls for 10 buildings with 120 multifamily apartments, followed by two, two-story mixeduse commercial, office and residential buildings along Hanna Lake Avenue in phase four. The last phase calls for two one-story commercial buildings along 68th Street.

“This is what the township has envisioned, just kind of a mixeduse development, pedestrian-oriented, amenity-oriented, and trying to bring the architectural standards up in Dutton,” said Dan Larabel, land manager for Allen Edwin Homes.

Gaslight Village project

Number of units: 180

Location: 515 Lakeside Drive SE and 2255 Wealthy St. SE in East Grand Rapids

Developer: Gaslight Investors LLC

Architect: Grand Rapids-based Integrated Architecture

Cost: Unknown

Estimated completion: Pending city approvals, construction is expected to take two years

Scott Wierda and Brian DeVries, who have done business together as Jade Pig Ventures since 1996, in June revived plans for a massive mixed-use project at an 8.6-acre parcel they own in Gaslight Village, adjacent to Jade Pig’s headquarters. It is at the former site of Jacobson’s department store, which they acquired when the chain went bankrupt in 2002.

It is also one of the last developable parcels left in the city, which has a population of about 11,500. City staff have said that this project would represent the most housing

development East Grand Rapids has seen in decades.

Former iterations of plans for housing and commercial on the site were twice derailed, first by the Great Recession in 2007-08 and again by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The new plans call for seven buildings with 180 units of apartments and townhomes, at least 56,970 square feet of commercial space, and a new parking garage to replace the current one.

The East Grand Rapids Planning Commission approved high-level concept plans in November, but the developers have several more hurdles to clear. These include city commission approval of the concept, and final site plan review at the planning and city commission levels.

HoM Flats at 24 East

Number of units: 202

Location: 717 E. 24th St. in Holland

Developer: Grand Rapids-based Magnus Capital Partners

Architect: Grand Rapids-based Hooker DeJong

General contractor: Kentwoodbased Rhode Construction

Cost: $60 million, supported by a Michigan State Housing Development Authority construction loan of $31 million and a PILOT agreement with the city of Holland

Estimated completion: 2025

Magnus Capital Partners has made a name for itself developing workforce housing in West Michigan, and HoM Flats at 24 East is the latest example.

It’s the second project Magnus

founder and CEO Vishal Arora has tackled in the Holland area that’s geared toward households making 40% to 80% of area median income. The other was the 114-unit HoM Flats at Felch Street in Holland Township.

Magnus broke ground in April on 24 East. The project will add 52 rental units for households making up to 40% of AMI, 61 units for those making up to 60% of AMI, and 49 units for households making up to 80% AMI. An additional 40 units will be market rate. Footprints will range from 670 to 1,150 square feet.

The project will also include 5,004 square feet of retail space and 8,196 square feet of child care space.

Shared amenities in the development will include a pickleball court, fitness studios, a coworking lounge, cafe, children’s play areas, game room, package room, pet washing stations, bike storage, rooftop terraces, walking paths and dog parks.

Arora also said in December he is planning to add child care to all the HoM Flats developments across West Michigan, including at 24 East.

“The child care problem goes hand in hand with community development in delivering the bestin-class workforce housing, and we know child care is a parallel problem,” he said.

Hope Village

Number of units: 16

Location: 101, 119 and 135 Garden

St. SE in Grand Rapids

Developer: Grand Rapids-based Mel Trotter Ministries

Architect: Ada Township-based Dixon Architecture

General contractor: Next Step of West Michigan

Cost: $2.8 million, supported by a $944,000 MI Neighborhood grant from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and private fundraising

Estimated completion: 2026

With their Hope Village project, Mel Trotter and Next Step are working to create a self-contained live-work enclave. Next Step is a nonprofit that provides job training for formerly homeless individuals and those coming out of incarceration or addiction.

Located in Grand Rapids’ Third Ward in a neighborhood that’s experienced years of disinvestment, the first phase of the overall $6.8 million project is almost done. It included converting the 15,000-square-foot former Kindel Furniture building into a $4 million mixed-use facility that will house Next Step’s job skills training program and offices on the ground floor and 10 workforce apartments for people transitioning from homelessness on the second floor.

The second phase includes 16 tiny homes ranging from 400 to 540 square feet each that will be stick-built indoors at Next Step’s manufacturing facility across the street and then assembled on paved foundations, which the nonprofit began pouring in December.

The tiny homes will be targeted for people who have gone through Next Step’s training program or who have been homeless in the past three years.

By late last year, Mel Trotter had about $1 million left to raise toward the $2.8 million budget for the tiny homes. About 82 individual donors and foundations had contributed up to that point through the nonprofit’s Immeasurably More 2023 capital campaign, along with the MSHDA grant.

The nonprofits hope to complete eight of the homes in 2025

A redevelopment plan for the former Shaw Walker Furniture Co. building in Muskegon calls for 538 new housing units as well as retail space. | PARKLAND PROPERTIES

Allen Edwin Homes’ Dutton Center calls for more than 200 homes and commercial space. COURTESy OF ALLEN EDWIN HOMES

Bills proposed to adjust paid leave, minimum wage

By David Eggert

LANSING — House Republicans and Senate Democrats on Jan. 8 introduced differing bills that would change facets of pending paid sick leave and minimum wage laws due to take effect in six weeks, a sign that both parties hope to quickly address the issues in 2025.

The House move was expected, given Republicans’ unsuccessful attempt to prioritize the items when they were in the minority last year. The Senate step was a surprise and was welcomed by business groups that are lobbying legislators to act before the laws are effective on Feb. 21.

“This is something that we’re looking to have bipartisan support for,” Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, told Crain’s on the opening day of a new two-year term. “There’s obviously an interest on both sides of the aisle in addressing issues with the current situation. We will engage in those conversations and see where we can get.”

The issues stem from a Michigan Supreme Court ruling in July, when the court ruled that “adopt-and-amend” maneuvers used by Republican lawmakers to water down two proposed ballot initiatives in 2018 were unconstitutional. The court ordered the restoration of the original measures, which will expand earned sick time requirements and increase the $10.56 hourly minimum wage to $14.97 by 2028 and the $4.01 hourly tipped wage to match the regular minimum by 2030.

One Senate bill would speed up an increase to $15 an hour by 2027. But it would significantly scale back and slow down increases in the tipped minimum wage.

The bill would keep the tipped wage at 38% of the regular minimum in 2025 and increase it to 60% over 10 years. The lower wage, which can be paid to servers and bartenders as long as it plus tips equals at least the regular wage, is currently scheduled to match 100% of the regular minimum by 2030 — a big concern for the restaurant industry.

In the House, Republican-sponsored legislation would slow the boost in the regular minimum to $15 by 2029 and ensure the tipped wage stays at 38%.

“There is urgency to deliver a solution that respects every side of this equation, and that’s why these are the first bills introduced this year,” Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, said in a statement.

Another Senate bill would adjust the earned sick time law, which will require employers with at least one employee to provide paid medical leave — 72 hours at places with 10 or more workers and 40 hours with fewer than 10 workers.

The law that was struck down by the Supreme Court exempted employers with under 50 employees. Those above that

amount have had to offer 40 hours of paid sick time and 32 hours unpaid.

The Senate legislation would require employers with at least 25 workers, not 10, to provide 72 hours. Those with fewer than 25 employees would have to offer 40 hours paid and 32 hours unpaid.

The bill would make several revisions related to employees’ advance notification of the use of leave, leave time increments, frontloading, accrual and complaints about alleged violations.

Republican-backed legislation in the House would continue to

“We believe that there’s a way to address the concerns that have been raised in a way that doesn’t make us choose between workers or employers. We can do what we can to support both.”

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids

exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from having to provide earned sick time.

Brinks said Democrats’ intent is to provide “clarity” around the leave expansion, “making sure

people understand what is expected of them as employers and what they are able to access as employees.”

“We’re looking for a reasonable approach there,” she said. “We’re

not going to gut the original intent. We talked through this a lot in terms of what would be fair, what seems to be an equitable approach for both employees and employers.”

The goal with the wage bill, she said, is to make sure “we’re giving workers a raise. … We believe that there’s a way to address the concerns that have been raised in a way that doesn’t make us choose between workers or employers. We can do what we can to support both.”

David Eggert is a reporter with Crain’s Detroit Business

Restaurant group braces for labor woes, egg price hikes

By Abby Poirier

Longtime West Michigan restaurateur and National Restaurant Association chair Jeff Lobdell is preparing for a lean 2025, as looming changes to Michigan’s tipped wage credit, higher prices for cage-free eggs and light consumer spending whittle away at thin restaurant margins.

The 35-year industry veteran owns Restaurant Partners Management LLC, which operates 22 restaurants throughout the Traverse City and Grand Rapids areas, including Real Food Cafe, Grand Coney Diner, Sundance Grill and Beltline Bar, among others.

Lobdell said he’s bracing for a tough market in 2025, as the tipped wage credit may start to be phased out in February. The change has the potential to increase his labor costs significantly and lead to the elimination of some of his 850 team members.

As well, provisions in a years-old law take effect in 2025 outlawing the sale or purchase of most eggs from caged hens in Michigan, which could add up to $1,500 monthly in costs for his breakfast restaurants.

Lobdell spoke with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business about his concerns for the coming year and how he intends to eke out growth amid a period of intense uncertainty.

Despite headwinds, what positives do you see ahead in 2025?

I’m optimistic that consumer confidence will improve and spending will go back up instead of being what I would describe as flat. There’s been a little bit of pent-up demand nationally for new restaurant openings. And I would think there should be some more openings (in the coming year.)

I’m excited about Michigan as a tourism destination. I think we’re going to continue to be popular. The fact that our state has committed to funding more Pure Michigan ads will be great for everyone. That’s one thing I’m excited about. In addition to my 16 restaurants in Grand Rapids, I have six in Traverse City and two hotels in Traverse City. The Traverse City area has been booming. We haven’t seen any slowdown at all. Grand Rapids has maybe been a little bit flatter.

What growth opportunities do you see for your restaurants?

Short term, I think there’s a lot of opportunities to look at and embrace technology. There’s opportunities for off-premise business because more and more people are wanting the convenience of having food delivered to them or having catered events brought to them. There’s good opportunities there in hospitality — (delivery) is very strong.

What will the changes to the tipped

wage credit system mean for your company?

I have approximately 850 team members in my company, and 575 are tipped employees. They work for a base wage plus tips. Their average wage rate is high — $20s, low $30s an hour. Their base wage is $3.93 plus they make tips. If the restaurant, over the next few years, has to pay them a base rate of $15 an hour, it’s not tenable. So those people would get hurt the most. Those jobs would be eliminated.

I’m cautiously optimistic that before these changes go into effect on Feb. 21, our legislature will do something to keep the tip credit in place. There’s been a lot of pressure and movement here in this lame duck session to try to get something to happen and although there’s proposed legislation, it hasn’t been brought before the floor for a vote.

Do you anticipate cutting staff or moving to a counter service model if they don’t fix it?

Initially, I’d probably have to shave some hours and raise some prices in order to keep the business viable and operating and see how that impacted sales and service. I wouldn’t rule out going to a counter service model. I wouldn’t rule out having to add in a service charge that operators in other states have been forced to do.

What are some of your top priorities for 2025?

Trying to operate as efficiently as possible, and to make sure that we don’t have any waste within our organization. Restaurants operate on razor-thin margins. Breakfast restaurants have a 6% net operating income, which means for every dollar that’s spent in the restaurant, only six (cents) goes to the bottom line to use for return on investments. With restaurants operating on those razor-thin margins, they need to be as efficient as possible. Going through and finding out how we can save costs and be more efficient as an organization will be a big initiative in 2025.

What investments have you planned for 2025?

Until we find out what’s going to

happen with the tip credit, it wouldn’t make sense to roll out more restaurants in a business environment that’s very punitive to small businesses and restaurants. If (the tipped wage credit) gets fixed, there could be optimism for more job growth and more restaurants opening. But if it doesn’t get fixed, you’ll see the opposite effect.

Is there anything else that keeps you up at night?

Egg prices. We’re estimating it’s going to add 2% to 4% of cost, around $1,500 a month per restaurant of added cost. We’re still going to use fresh cracked eggs, like we always have. At this point, until we see an impact on the bottom line, we’re praying for the best that we don’t get hit that hard and we would just absorb the cost.

New Holland ‘very bullish’ as more Origin bourbon comes online

By Abby Poirier

New Holland Brewing Co. heads into 2025 with plans to bolster its non-alcoholic options and invest in its Tangerine Space Machine brand, all while leveraging a larger supply of its signature bourbon for growth.

That’s according to CEO Brett VanderKamp, who said the craft brewery is leaning into hazy IPA offerings with new Tangerine Space Machine flavors. He’s also looking forward to more stock maturing for the company’s Dragon’s Milk Origin Small Batch, a 95-proof bourbon aged for a minimum of five years.

The plans come after New Holland opened a new spirits tasting room in July at the former Grand Theatre in Grand Haven. The company also collaborated with Hasbro’s fantasy tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The collaboration introduced two limited-edition beverages to New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk line: D20 Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout and Origin Mead Cask Bourbon Whiskey, both of which launched in November.

As 2024 closed out, VanderKamp was bullish on what sees in the cards for 2025.

What brands are performing well for

you as we head into 2025?

Tangerine Space Machine just continues to skyrocket. We’re up double-digit growth on that, and we continue to see big growth for that in 2025. On the spirit side of things, our Dragon’s Milk Origin bourbon did very well. We have limited supply of that, (but) we have more supply coming online for 2025. It’ll be the most we’ve had. We should be able to see about a 30% lift in volume for that because we just have not had the supply to meet the demand. We’re very bullish for 2025.

What growth opportunities are you focusing on in the coming year?

We think there’s still a lot of distribution ground and availability around our Tangerine Space Machine brand. We’re seeing just really remarkable growth (for that brand) in an industry right now that is not growing, and we’re really excited about that. We’re really doubling down on that brand. We’re going to be working on … different flavors (and) pack sizes for different occasions, for customers on the go that are looking for a little different price point, as well as a refresh to that brand in 2025.

What other opportunities can New Holland seize to grow next year?

We have a lot of innovation going

right now. The one area that we still see opportunity that we have piloted within our tasting rooms is the non-alcoholic (NA) beer space. If we can continue the development on the pace that we’re on, I could see us bringing out one or two products to market — at least in Michigan — in the NA craft space. We are definitely looking to bring Zylch (NA IPA) out to distribution. And then we could see a couple of different flavor profiles, different styles of that.

What’s driving growth for New Holland?

A big driver for us is the limited releases that we are offering. That

brings people into our establishments. There’s a real nice synergy when that happens that we’re able to build off of and then hopefully we get the repeat of people wanting to come back. They had a good time, a positive experience, and they want to come back and enjoy themselves in our place again.

When I spoke with you in March, you were anticipating building out more tasting rooms. Does New Holland have any plans to do that in the coming year?

We’re going to continue to work on the establishments that we have and do some enhancements at our tasting rooms with some food offerings. We think we have a good start, but (the tasting rooms are) not quite there to be able to deliver something for repeat customers in those tasting rooms. We’re going to take our foot off the gas on the geographic expansion and really enhance the products we have there.

On the heels of your Dungeons and Dragons collaboration, are any more collaborations or partnerships in the cards for the next year?

We are working very closely right now with Dungeons and Dragons on a repeat and enhancement of those products (that will) be an extension of the product line. We’re

looking to repeat that collaboration next year across both beer and spirits. We think there’s more fertile ground there.

What keeps you up at night as you look at the coming year?

I hate to say it, but we’re still rebounding from COVID and the disaster that that was for not just New Holland, but for our industry. We’re finding that talent’s looking at our industry differently now, more positively, but that’s been a big challenge, and (the upcoming changes to the tipped wage credit) just hurts that more. I haven’t talked to any of my team members that aren’t going to be impacted by this, that are for it, and that’s the most puzzling part. What’s the rationale for this, and who’s it really benefiting? My team, they’re not excited about it, and personally, I think it’s going to be more difficult for us to retain our top talent. That’s the big challenge. I would categorize that all under the big bucket of labor challenges.

Margin erosion has been the biggest challenge that we’re all facing, supply chain and prices going up. We’re having a very difficult time passing that along, given that we’re in a downtrend for volume in the category. That’s the big mega trend that’s out there. Unfortunately, the news isn’t great.

Jeff Lobdell, president of Restaurant Partners Management LLC. | COURTESy PHOTO

Brett VanderKamp, co-founder and CEO of New Holland. COURTESy PHOTO

Steelcase, MillerKnoll see reasons for optimism

By Mark Sanchez

Executives at the top two contract furniture manufacturers expect sales to maintain their present pace or pick up going into early 2025, when their businesses may also be forced to deal with the effects of proposed tariffs.

Both Grand Rapids-based Steelcase Inc. and Zeeland-based MillerKnoll Inc. reported results for their most recent quarters and offered guidance on their current periods that span into the first two months of 2025.

“We continue to be optimistic for the year ahead based on momentum we’re seeing in several of our businesses, along with leading indicators, which vary by segment, strengthening our overall demand picture,” MillerKnoll President and CEO Andi Owen said during a conference call with analysts in December to discuss quarterly results.

MillerKnoll (Nasdaq: MLKN) expects to generate $903 million to $943 million in sales for the present third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year, which represents a 3.5% to 8.1% gain over the same period a year ago. The company’s 2025 fiscal year started on June 2 of 2024 and runs through May 31, 2025.

The guidance reflects how “orders are trending nicely ahead of last year,” although “they’ve recovered at a slower pace than we expected at this point in the year,” Owen said.

As well, the guidance includes the effects of “typical seasonal softness in our Americas and international contract businesses as the calendar year comes to a close,” CFO Jeff Stutz said.

Still, MillerKnoll’s full-year guidance that includes earnings per share of $2.11 to $2.17 also “reflects our confidence that our business is poised for growth,” Stutz said.

“We believe both the internal and external indicators support our expectation of improving demand in most of our markets in the second half of the fiscal year,” he said.

MillerKnoll reported $970.4 million in sales for the three-month period that ended Nov. 30, a 2.2% increase from the prior year, with $35.2 million in net income, or 49 cents per diluted share.

Sales midway through the fiscal year totaled $1.83 billion, a slight decline from the $1.86 million in the first half of 2024, with $32.9 million in net income, or 47 cents per share.

At Grand Rapids-based Steelcase (NYSE: SCS), orders by large corporate clients in the first few weeks of the fourth quarter of the 2025 fiscal year grew 15% over a year ago, “and we continue to see a strong trend” early in the present December-to-February period, President and CEO Sarah Armbruster said in a December conference call to discuss results for the company’s third quarter that ended Nov. 22.

Steelcase’s 2025 fiscal year began Feb. 24, 2024.

As Steelcase navigates the current period and “we begin to think about fiscal 2026, we believe the current macroeconomic environ-

ment and what we’re hearing from our large customers in the Americas are supportive of us targeting organic revenue growth and improved adjusted earnings for next year,” CFO Dave Sylvester said in the conference call.

“The key to potentially driving meaningful organic revenue growth in fiscal 2026 is related to our large corporate customers, and it seems the level of demand from that customer segment may be at or near an inflection point,” he said.

Steelcase projects $770 million to $795 million in sales for the current fourth quarter, which represents a 1% decrease to 3% increase compared to the $775.2 million in the same period a year ago. Steelcase expects 17 cents to 21 cents in earnings per share for the fourth quarter.

Organic sales growth in the low to mid-single digit range for the 2026 fiscal year represents a “reasonable target at this point,” Sylvester said.

For its recent third quarter, Steelcase reported $777.9 million in sales, a 5.9% decline from the same period a year earlier. Steelcase recorded higher net income of $30.8 million, of 26 cents per diluted share.

Sylvester noted that the quarterly decline was “up against strong growth in the prior year.”

Steelcase’s sales through the first nine months of its fiscal year were down 2% to $2.38 billion with net income of $59.8 million, more than triple the earnings in the same period of 2024, or 50 cents per diluted share.

Preparing for tariffs

In reporting quarterly results and guidance, executives at both corporations said they were plan ning for new tariffs that Presi dent-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose on China, Mexico, Canada and other nations after he takes office later this month.

“We’re paying very close atten tion to the tariff proposal. We’ve managed through similar tariff pol icy changes in the past and are looking to a number of options to mitigate if needed. These could include identifying alternative sources of supply, options for advanced purchasing of imported goods and materials and possible future price adjustments in response to tariff-driven cost increases,” Owen said of MillerKnoll. “We know from experience that our global manufacturing footprint and supply chain agility is an advantage, and we will determine which combination of these responses is appropriate as more details on tariff actions come available.”

Steelcase also would likely pass on the cost of new tariffs to clients.

The company aims to build inventory and examine “ways to reduce

our exposure by bringing some things in-house and developing contingency plans,” Sylvester said.

“We’ve looked at this quite carefully and we are evaluating contingency plans and we’re taking some actions where we can, which includes buying additional inventory in advance of the potential tariffs being put into place,” said Sylvester, noting that Steelcase was “developing contingency plans, but we’re not necessarily taking action because we’re not convinced those are actually going to play out.”

Tariffs affecting components imported from Mexico where Steelcase sources parts would “create significant inflation across the U.S., and that seems to be something the (incoming) administration wants to avoid at the same time,” Sylvester said.

After tariffs during the first Trump administration, MillerKnoll “spent a lot of time and effort making sure that we rationalize our manufacturing and our supply chain,” Owen said.

“We are a lot less exposed to places like China than we have been in the past,” she said. “We have a playbook ready depending on what those tariffs end up being.”

MillerKnoll Inc.’s new flagship showroom in New York City | COurTESy PHOTO

As EV fever cools, what happens to battery plants?

Ford says Blue Oval factory is still on track, but the fates of other projects are more uncertain

By Kurt Nagl

Over the past three years, Michigan competed aggressively for electric vehicle battery projects as companies rolled out plans for multibillion-dollar factories representing the future of the automotive industry.

EV fever has since died down.

Automakers including Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. have addressed weaker-than-expected demand by dialing back factory plans and in some cases exiting from and shrinking them.

Battery giants like LG Energy Solution are juggling potential excess capacity amid massive expansion plans. China-linked battery makers CATL and Gotion are still dealing with community pushback on projects that became political landmines.

Meanwhile, sentiment against corporate incentives has grown stronger among critics and some lawmakers who have pointed to project disruptions and community resistance as proof points that Michigan’s economic development strategy needs fixing.

But Quentin Messer, the state’s top economic development official, said he rejects the notion that the EV battery plants might be boondoggles.

“Back in the Granholm administration, Michigan made a big push in batteries, and there were some things that didn’t work out well, and everybody kind of retreated,” Messer told Crain’s in an interview. “Can you imagine if we had continued going forward, what a profound advantage we would have had, because at some point there are going to be other propulsion systems.”

To that end, Messer said the state will continue pursuing other battery and advanced mobility projects even as many of those secured have yet to launch.

It was never the expectation that the jobs promised for these battery plants would have materialized by now, Messer said. Anticipated employment for the first project backed by the Strategic Outreach and Attraction fund, or SOAR — a controversial business attraction fund — is not until 2027, for example.

“If you look at the actual dollars that have been disbursed from these grants relative to the private investment, I think what you’ll see is, on average, at least two-and-ahalf dollars of private investment for every dollar disbursed under these grants,” Messer said. “I like that. I’ll take that because that’s real money, real investment, coming into the state in anticipation of hiring Michiganders.”

Here’s a look at where EV battery projects in Michigan stand:

Ford Blue Oval Battery Park in Marshall

When Ford confirmed plans for

a $3.5 billion, 2,500-jobs EV battery factory in Marshall in early 2023, it was a bit of redemption for Michigan in its quest to maintain automotive dominance.

Ford sent shock waves through the state in 2021 when it announced that it would be venturing away from home to invest $11 billion in EV plants and create thousands of jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was the impetus for launching the SOAR fund, initially a $1.5 billion economic “toolkit.”

In late 2023, Ford announced it would cut the Marshall project by roughly a third, to $2.2 billion and 1,700 jobs. Michigan eventually slashed incentives for the project from more than $1 billion to $409.1 million.

The incentives that have been disbursed so far are $103 million in Strategic Site Readiness Program funding to the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance for the project, according to the MEDC.

Construction of the scaleddown plant was more than 20% complete as of July, and the automaker said it remains on track to begin producing lithium iron phosphate battery packs, with help from Chinese battery giant CATL, in 2026.

Our Next Energy in Van Buren Township

Novi-based Our Next Energy (ONE) is working to stay afloat after its EV battery startup stardom faded into financial struggle. Investors balked on a critical fundraising round, resulting in layoffs, leadership changes and a paused build-out of its factory in Van Buren, where it planned to invest $1.6 billion and employ 2,112.

The company entered a strategic partnership with Foxconn in June in its pursuit to remain a going concern, Crain’s reported. The companies have yet to confirm the partnership and its status is unclear.

ONE employs 50 people at the Van Buren Township plant and will add more as additional phases of construction are completed,

said spokesman Dan Pierce.

“The first phase of the build out, the completion of a dry room, has allowed ONE to build prototype LFP cells at ONE Circle,” Pierce told Crain’s in an email.

Additionally, the company began producing commercial battery packs at its Novi location after its contract manufacturing agreement with Piston Group ended. Customers for those packs include Bollinger, The Shyft Group and Motiv.

The state approved roughly $200 million worth of incentives for the Van Buren plant. It has so far received $70.2 million in Critical Industry Program grant funding, according to the MEDC.

“ONE continues to receive SOAR funding from the state of Michigan to support the build-out of its battery cell factory and will continue to do so as long as the company meets all of the agreed upon benchmarks for the facility which is scheduled to be completed and at capacity by 2027,” Pierce said.

Gotion battery plant near Big Rapids

Gotion’s planned $2.4 billion factory and 2,350 jobs near Big Rapids has been a lightning rod for controversy since the moment the Chinese battery maker tried to

plant its flag in West Michigan.

The project, announced in 2022, has spurred a lawsuit, community protests, heated anti-China rhetoric from Lansing to Washington, D.C., and a wholesale recall of local township board members. The factory footprint has also gone through numerous iterations, with various changes to square footage and a slight shift in location to keep out of another township opposed to it.

Still, the company appears to be moving forward with the project despite an ongoing lawsuit with Green Charter Township attempting to stymy it. Gotion began clearing land for the plant in early 2024 and won a key ruling later in the summer allowing it to move forward.

The company is clamming up, though.

“Due to ongoing legal proceedings involving the Green Charter Township Board, Gotion has chosen to temporarily pause public statements to respect the legal process and ensure fairness,” the company said in a statement.

“However, this will not affect its ongoing commitment to advancing the project. We look forward to resuming communications and sharing more exciting updates once these matters are appropriately resolved.”

Chuck Thelen, vice president and general manager for Gotion, did not return a request for comment.

The state approved $715 million worth of incentives for the project.

So far, it has received $50 million of Strategic Site Readiness Program funding through West Michigan economic development agency The Right Place, according to the MEDC.

LG Energy Solution

LG Energy Solution has recently undertaken several large investments in Holland, and its soon-tobe dissolved GM joint venture battery plant in Lansing recently wrapped up construction.

The battery manufacturer announced a year ago it would invest $3 billion at a plant in Holland to

make cells for Toyota that would be shipped to the Japanese automaker’s plant in Kentucky and assembled into battery packs. At the same time, LG is wrapping up a $1.7 billion expansion and gearing up for an additional $2.5 billion expansion in Holland.

Following GM’s planned exit from the Ultium Cells JV in Lansing, LG is considering using the plant in Lansing to supply cells to Toyota Motor North America, Crain’s reported Dec. 19.

It is unclear how shifting production to Lansing might impact LG’s large-scale expansions on the west side of the state.

LG spokesman Phil Lienert said acquiring the Lansing plant fits its goal to “optimize our investments in North America and also respond to the needs from global automakers.” The company did not confirm or deny plans to build cells for Toyota in Lansing and said “there are no changes or updates to share at this time” regarding investment in Holland.

The state supported the Lansing plant with a $666 million cash grant package — the first payout from the SOAR fund — which also helped fund GM’s Orion Assembly Plant expansion. The GM-Ultium project received a $120 million Critical Industry Program grant and a $66.1 million Strategic Site Readiness Program grant through the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, according to the MEDC. Messer told Crain’s on Dec. 19 that the state would seek to renegotiate its incentive deal with GM in light of the automaker pulling out of the Lansing plant.

“One of the things that collectively we’ve said is that we will have to go and renegotiate those grants agreements because now GM will not have any employment at (the Lansing plant),” Messer said. “Their sole employment is going to come from the Lake Orion facility, and so that’s going to require us to do a rewrite of those agreements that we’ll be undertaking the first quarter of calendar year 2025.”

Kurt Nagl is a reporter with Crain’s Detroit Business.

Ford Motor Co. said last summer that its Blue Oval Battery Park in Marshall was more than 20% complete and is on target to start production in 2026. | FORD MOTOR CO.

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City board OKs initial plan for Hidden Bluff project

By Rachel Watson

A Grand Rapids board has granted preliminary approval to a pair of developers planning to add dozens of townhomes and two single-family lots next door to a public park.

The Grand Rapids City Planning Commission last month approved preliminary site plan and special land use requests by Brandon Visser and Nathan Coffman, of Brave Development LLC, for a project called Hidden Bluff that calls for 77 two- and three-bedroom townhomes and two single-family homes at 1644 Ball Ave. NE.

The roughly 9-acre wooded property abuts Ball Perkins Park to the south and east and is just south of Berkley Hills Church. To the west is a neighborhood of single-family homes.

Based on current costs, the developers expect the townhomes to be marketed for sale in the $300,000 to $375,000 range.

The existing single-family home on the property, which faces Ball Avenue, is expected to be preserved and parceled off from the project. The developers expect to prepare two lots south of it for additional single-family homes to be built on by another builder.

“I think the single-family homes along Ball (Avenue) is a nice touch,” Planning Commissioner Kyle VanStrien said during the Dec. 12 meeting. “I think that’s appropriate, and as with many cases that we see, having even just a visual transition between what you

are seeing at the street versus what the use is deeper in a lot — this helps a lot.”

Visser is a fourth-generation builder and founder of Plainfield Township-based Visser Building Group, which will be the builder for this project. Coffman, who is his cousin, is owner of Plainfield Township-based Coffman Property Management.

“Finding the need for the area and fitting (in) something that is addressing that need is probably the most important part and the first step of our development process,” Visser told the planning commission.

He said from his work building houses in this area, “it’s been a battle” to supply housing that is affordable and meets the needs of first-time buyers under age 50.

“Building product that is attainable for that group of people was 100% the mindset from the very beginning,” he said. “We want to create something that we’re proud to drive by and be a part of.”

Neighbors shared mixed reactions to the plans. Four people wrote letters of support and three spoke in favor of the project on Dec. 12. The city received eight letters of opposition ahead of the meeting and nine comments of concern during the meeting. Most who were against it did not want to see anything other than single-family homes in this area because of concerns over traffic and changing the neighborhood character.

The planning commission was unanimous in its support for the

project.

“We certainly do need housing, this a beautiful neighborhood, and I support the putting in of townhouses as a way to have some differentiation,” Planning Commissioner Susan Shannon said, though she added she would like to see a little less density on this site.

Visser and Coffman plan to add a public road extending off Ball Avenue that runs through the development and ends in a cul-desac, as well as sidewalks and green space. They also are working to prioritize preservation of existing mature trees on the site.

Plans call for a playground and detention pond on the far east side of the parcel, bordering Ball Perkins Park, as well as a sidewalk on the south side of the property that

Grand Rapids lands on 2025 list of top 10 ‘hot’ housing markets

By Rachel Watson

The Grand Rapids-area housing market is expected to be among the top performers in the country in 2025, driven by factors like population growth and relative affordability of inventory.

The Chicago-based National Association of Realtors in December named Grand Rapids to its annual list of 10 top housing hot spots for 2025.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist and senior vice president of research, said in a statement that the list of hot markets is based on a combination of economic, demographic and housing market indicators.

“Important factors common among the top performing markets in 2025 include available inventory at affordable price points, a better chance of unlocking low mortgage rates, higher income growth for young adults and net migration into specific metro areas,” Yun said.

The NAR also predicts that mortgage interest rates will stabilize near 6% in 2025, and that the U.S. will see 4.5 million existing

home sales in 2025. The group expects a median existing home price of $410,700.

The median home price in Grand Rapids at the end of November was $382,394, according to multiple listing service data compiled by the Grand Rapids-based Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors.

Five of the other hot markets NAR chose for 2025 were in the South. They include: Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C. area; Greenville-Anderson, S.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Ariz.; and San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas.

The remaining four hot markets spanned the Eastern U.S. and the Midwest, including Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.; Hartford-East-Hartford-Middletown, Conn.; Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.; and Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.

Yun said all 10 areas offer a favorable financing environment, either with lower proportions of locked-in homeowners or lower mortgage rates.

Most of the markets outperform the national average in factors like job growth, home price apprecia-

tion, millennial renters who can afford to buy, net migration ratios, households reaching home-buying age in the next five years, the share of out-of-state movers purchasing a home, number of homeowners surpassing the average length of tenure, and share of starter-owner occupied units.

Paul Bunce, broker-owner of Paul Bunce Real Estate and 2024 board president of GRAR, said it came as no surprise to him that Grand Rapids made the NAR list, thanks to its affordability and lifestyle appeal.

“I think we have a great abundance of amenities for a city of our size,” he said. “You have great health care, you have a great downtown, you have plenty of extracurricular activities, and we continue to grow all of those things in our city. I think that that is a factor for a lot of people who want to move here, comparable to many other cities (that) don’t have all the things that we have to offer. I always say it’s the biggest small city out there.”

Bunce added that while median home prices might seem high to people who live here, many peo-

two carport spaces per unit and access to 20 guest surface parking spaces.

At the recommendation of the city’s planning department, the planning commission took the unusual step of making this a preliminary site plan approval, which means the developer will have to come back before the board for final site plan review. That is something the city of Grand Rapids does not usually require.

would connect to the city park’s trails.

The preliminary site layout shows 28 three-bedroom townhomes on the north side of the new street, and 49 two-bedrooms on the south side.

Plans call for unit footprints ranging from just less than 1,300 square feet to nearly 1,600 square feet. The units will all have either patios or balconies.

The plan currently calls for 202 parking spaces. The larger, three-bedroom condos are expected to each have rear-loading two-car garages accessible by a one-way drive behind the units. Because the garages won’t have driveway space, the developers also added 28 parallel parking spaces for those units’ guests. The two-bedroom units would have

Planning department staff told the board they believe that, as the developers continue to work with city engineers and consultants, they may need to make layout changes or reduce the project’s density and/or number of parking spaces to satisfy engineering concerns, including tree and root preservation, natural space buffers, setbacks, and sewer and stormwater management.

Planning Director Kristin Turkelson said the number of “question marks” this plan raised with city staff means that the plan may not end up being “constructible in the way it’s presented.”

“I realize the developers may not agree, but internally, we do not believe that this is going to look exactly the same” in final site plan review, she said.

Preliminary approval with the requirement to come back for final approval “gives the confidence to the developer that we’re generally okay with the project” but that more engineering work is needed, she added.

ple who are looking to move back to Grand Rapids to be closer to family might have a different perspective.

“If you’re moving from someplace that’s more expensive, then it looks very affordable,” Bunce said.

One of the factors that GRAR expects to see ease slightly in 2025 is available inventory, although there’s still a shortage of homes, he said. Typically, housing economists say that a balanced market has four to six months of inventory supply, while GRAR data showed 1.7 months of inventory supply at the end of November.

In his report for NAR, Yun also predicted an uptick in inventory

levels, which he anticipates will result from new construction projects and homeowners deciding to list their properties, encouraged by stabilizing mortgage rates and improving market conditions.

NAR expects housing starts will reach an annual average of 1.45 million units in the next couple of years, just shy of the historical average annual level of 1.5 million units.

“Home buyers will have more success next year,” Yun said. “The worst of the affordability challenges are over as more inventory, stable mortgage rates and continued job and income growth pave the way for more Americans to achieve homeownership.”

Hidden Bluff calls for 77 two- and three-bedroom townhomes and two single-family houses.

COURTESy BRAVE DEVELOPMENT LLC, FEENSTRA & ASSOCIATES INC.

A home for sale in Grand Rapids’ Eastown neighborhood. | RACHEL WATSON, CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

New food hall debuts at former Muskegon bank

By Elizabeth Schanz

A new downtown Muskegon food hall is a local developer’s latest step forward in what’s been a three-year, roughly $9 million redevelopment of a former bank building.

The first phase of Lumberman’s Vault Food Collective opened on Dec. 6 in Core Development LLC’s Core Plaza project located at 221 W. Webster Ave. Built in 1962, the former Huntington Bank building has been a fixture in downtown Muskegon but sat vacant for several years.

The food collective project has been a 15-month process that is part of larger mixed-use redevelopment goals for the building, which Core acquired three years ago.

Since the purchase, the developer has invested $8.5 million to $9 million to reinvent and buildout the space to accommodate offices, retail and now a food hall.

The six floors were repurposed with coworking space and offices. Retail spaces on the second floor house a photography studio, a salon and an event space called the Gathering Room.

However, the food hall will open opportunities through the rest of the building as people take food and drink to the upper floors, said Troy Wasserman, partner at Core Development.

Additionally, the Gathering Room will be able to cater events from the food court.

“It’s just another steppingstone to move Muskegon forward as an-

other cool concept. There’s a lot of stuff going on in town and lots of good developments,” Wasserman said. “There’s a lot of eyes on Muskegon these days. It seems there’s a lot of really good traction moving forward with multiple developers in town.”

Muskegon Quality Builders served as the contractor on the second floor, first floor and basement.

Derek Edlund, a Muskegon native and general manager of Lumberman’s Vault, said the food hall concept brings a “big-city feel” to downtown.

“I love Muskegon, and I love this being an addition to Muskegon,”

Edlund said. “It’s a new take on hospitality, and I think that the concept is very approachable.”

Once fully completed, the former bank lobby space will have a total of five food vendors and a bar.

Rather than having an individual space for each food offering like a restaurant, Lumberman’s Vault Food Collective uses the 6,500-square-foot first floor to create an open-concept dining experience. Guests can go to any of the food vendors and complement their bites with drinks from the centerpiece bar, dubbed Liquid Assets.

Edlund became part of the project in August, bringing 20 years of experience from the hospitality industry. He helped finalize the design of the back bar for Liquid Assets, which features the previous bank’s 6,680-pound vault door.

The contents of the bar were just

“It’s a new take on hospitality, and I think that the concept is very approachable.”

Derek Edlund, general manager of Lumberman’s Vault

as important to Edlund as its appearance. With the diverse food offerings, Edlund is building a custom cocktail program to go with each menu.

Three of the concepts in the vault opened in December: Liquid Assets, Soul Filled Eatery and Casa Cabo’s Muskegon. The food collective is intended to offer an affordable experience with items priced from $3 for a taco to an $18 soul food platter with a choice of meat and three sides, Edlund said.

Other food options are slated to open in the coming weeks and months. The Press — which will serve paninis, Boba, and espresso — and Up Leaf Café, serving Thai fusion, are expected to open soon.

The Foundry, which will serve American food like smash burgers, is slated for opening in the next six weeks or so.

Edlund estimates the six concepts will employ approximately 60 people. The food hall also provides unique opportunities for restaurant owners, he said.

“The concept of shared hospitality is pretty cool. It gives (restaurant owners) the opportunity who maybe might have not had the opportunity to go out and purchase a building and install HVAC and a hood system and all that stuff,” Edlund said. “It just makes it more approachable and it puts like-minded individuals in the same building who really just care about food and beverage.”

The open concept on the main floor can accommodate 235 guests with seats and 45 seats on the second-floor mezzanine that overlooks Lumberman’s Vault. Without tables and chairs, the first floor can hold 400 people, Wasserman said.

Lumberman’s Vault Food Collective is already working on what’s next. Wasserman and his team hope to create outdoor seating and stage space that they hope to start work on this winter and open in summer 2025.

“The whole concept is very experimental, especially for Muskegon,” Edlund said. “So all we’re trying to do right now is maintain, make good impressions, and make sure that everybody that walks in has a good time and walks out with a big story to tell.”

Pickleball and golf venue aims for elevated experience

By Elizabeth Schanz

An indoor pickleball and golf simulator space opening on Grand Rapids’ west side aims to create a “refined and elegant” destination for guests, venue leaders say.

Pickle and Pin LLC held a Jan. 4 grand opening to mark the official transition of the once-blighted, 6,466-square-foot building at 662 Leonard St. NW into a state-of-theart facility. The venue includes fullsized pickleball courts, golf simulators and a bar, and aims to offer an elevated experience for guests.

“I think when you think indoor pickleball or golf in West Michigan, you think of a gymnasium … . This space is definitely way more refined than that,” said Shay Straayer, general manager of Pickle and Pin. “(Pickle and Pin is) definitely a little swankier than your average sports arena, that’s for sure. It’s definitely a comfortable place for you to want to hang out.”

Pickle and Pin offers memberships and drop-in packages to access its facilities. Straayer said 109 people have become Pickle and Pin members so far.

The annual membership is $495 per person, which includes a discounted rate for pickleball courts

at $24 and golf simulators at $44 per hour. Drop-in guest rates are $40 an hour for pickleball and $60 for simulators.

Pickle and Pin has three private golf simulators that can accommodate up to six people each, and three pickleball courts that open at 5 a.m.

The golf simulators are sec-

tioned off from adjacent simulators to create a comfortable and sound-controlled experience, Straayer said.

To help enhance the golf experience, Pickle and Pin members can access an AI program at the golf simulators that can help users analyze their swings and receive coaching tips. A PGA Pro instruc-

tor also is available for private lessons at an additional cost.

The project is co-owned by Zachary Verhulst, founder and CEO of Pure Architects, Blaine Westerlund, an architectural designer at Pure Architects, and Crystal Lettinga, who also serves as the PGA Pro instructor. Pure Architects designed the project.

Pickle and Pin also features a bar with offerings ranging from $6 beers to high-end spirits. Additionally, Pickle and Pin has partnered with neighboring restaurants on Leonard Street — including Long Road Distillery, The Mitten Brewing Co. and Two Scotts Barbeque — for guests to bring in food, Straayer said.

“This is going to be a little bit more of a hangout style, not just show up, play and go home. So we definitely want to make this a destination,” Straayer said.

Pickle and Pin operates with app-based and online scheduling. Its pickleball courts open at 5 a.m. daily. Golf simulators open at 9 a.m. Monday-Thursday, and facilities close at 11 p.m. The business is open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays with shortened hours on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Pickle and Pin joins a wave of new “eatertainment” venues in Grand Rapids, including with a focus on indoor golf. That includes the new Gimme’s Par and Grill at 45 Ottawa Ave. NW, which features nine golf simulator bays; Big Mini Putt Club at 70 Ionia Ave. SW; and the Brandon Roby Golf Performance Center at 2320 28th St. SE.

Lumberman’s Vault Food Collective opened on Dec. 6 in Core Development LLC’s Core Plaza building. | COurTESy PHOTO

Pickle and Pin features indoor pickleball courts, golf simulators and a bar at a formerly blighted Leonard Street building. | COurTESy OF PICKLE anD PIn

Survey finds soft goods shops, ‘eatertainment’ in demand

By Abby Poirier

Grand Rapids residents and visitors want to see a mix of clothing, outdoor, book, health food and fresh produce retailers, as well as immersive, entertainment-based restaurants in the central business district.

Those are among the early findings of an interactive survey launched this fall by placing QR codes on vacant downtown storefronts and asking respondents what businesses they’d like to see move into the spaces.

Richard App, a retail retention and attraction specialist who works with the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., said the survey has garnered several hundred responses so far and continues to accept replies. The survey asks questions about where the respondents live in relation to downtown, their age, and what types of businesses most appeal to them.

According to App, Grand Rapids residents and visitors who responded to the survey are “overwhelmingly” interested in having more soft goods retailers downtown, as well as additional “eatertainment” options.

Indeed, several new businesses opened downtown last year to fill those niches. Among them, Greyson Clothiers launched Dec. 6 and luxury goods maker Shinola

opened in late January, while downtown “eatertainment” options grew with the additions of Gimme’s Par and Grill and Big Mini Putt Club.

“I would not be surprised to see an arcade bar coming into downtown,” App said, adding that he has fielded outreach from business owners exploring the potential for an immersive event space. As well, App has held talks with

“There’s this energy in downtown Grand Rapids that other cities are lacking right now.”

Mike Mraz, president of real estate development for Rockford Construction

two additional clothiers that are interested in the city, one of which has visited multiple times already. “I think we can get more clothing. We have room for people that are bringing new products online.”

In the coming months, App intends to share the results of the survey with the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority and local developers and property owners who can take the findings under consideration and use the information to attract new businesses.

“When we think about entrepreneurs coming with new concepts, having data and survey responses from people and being able to share that publicly and say, ‘This is what we’re hearing,’ I think that is a helpful ingredient,” said Bill Kirk, director of communications for DGRI.

Mike Mraz, president of real estate development for Rockford Construction, said the company was supportive of the survey as a new way to gauge community interests. It owns several properties where App placed a QR code for the survey.

Attracting new tenants is a complicated process that blends consumer interest with complementary services to create a vibrant downtown, he said. Getting visitors downtown requires a wide range of both local and national brands and restaurants to appeal to a variety of consumers.

“Really, a city needs all types of retail, restaurants, entertainment to succeed,” he said. “It needs to be a draw for residents, suburban residents, as well as visitors.”

He also noted that “business travelers and conventioneers who see a familiar brand are attracted to it, but along the way, get to experience the local flavor of retail and others. And that’s a good blend.”

When recognizable retailers move in, it helps reassure other businesses who may be consider-

ing taking the leap and opening a downtown storefront, Mraz said.

App agreed, noting that new luxury businesses moving into the city indicate that retailers are “looking at Grand Rapids as a place to safely open a business.”

He also believes Grand Rapids’ young population, buoyed by the presence of several colleges and universities, is helping encourage luxury brands to invest in the city.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, Grand Rapids residents ages 20 to 29 make up the largest percentage of the population, representing nearly 22%.

Mraz noted that DGRI’s Retail Business Innovation Grant has also been a significant factor in helping lure new businesses into the city.

In 2024, 19 new businesses opened in downtown Grand Rap-

ids, including six food and beverage establishments and eight new retailers, according to DGRI data.

The grant, which helps offset initial operating expenses for new retailers, was used by six of the new downtown businesses, including Shinola, Gimme’s Par and Grill and Big Mini Putt Club.

Looking forward, Mraz is confident in Grand Rapids’ ability to continue to attract businesses that both visitors and residents are looking to frequent.

“You read stories about downtowns vacating, and we’re the opposite,” Mraz said. “There’s this energy in downtown Grand Rapids that other cities are lacking right now. We are getting calls from people in other cities that want to invest in our downtown. That’s a pretty cool validation of what the city is capable of.”

Culling of Michigan weed companies could start soon

By Dustin Walsh

Michigan’s cannabis industry faces a reckoning in 2025.

Oversupply and low, low prices are coming to a head in the industry, leaving a trail of shuttered cultivator and processors.

The average price for an ounce of cannabis flower in Michigan’s adult-use market fell nearly 23% to $71.80 — a record low — between the start of the year and the end of November, cutting into margins for the industry.

Two major cultivators have recently announced closures.

Chicago-based PharmaCann told employees it would shutter its 207,000-square-foot LivWell Michigan cultivation site in Warren, laying off 222, in January.

Fluresh LLC, doing business as Tend.Harvest.Cultivate, announced it was closing down its $46 million, 105,000-square-foot grow facility in Adrian at the end of November.

And with the inventory of the annual outdoor “Croptober” harvest flooding the market, there’s no indication prices will stabilize.

The inventory of fresh frozen cannabis — which is cannabis from outdoor grow operations frozen for use in resins and rosins throughout the year — was al-

ready nearly 2.8 million pounds in October; up more than 228% from the 876,600 pounds in November 2023, according to state data analyzed by William Fetterman, owner of Hanover-based Central Coast Horticultural LLC.

That oversupply of cannabis is a prime driver of low prices. Last year, fresh frozen cannabis sold for $0.12 to $0.15 per gram. This year, that price is going to be as low as $0.08 per gram, or about $36 per pound, Fetterman told Crain’s.

But several factors are at play that could sustain those in the Michigan market that are able to withstand the current pricing conditions.

The benefit to cultivators going out of business is that it removes product supply from the market.

Fluresh produced about 4% of the state’s total marijuana output with its Adrian operation contributing about 20,000 pounds of product and output from its Grand Rapids operation contributing 30,000 pounds annually, CEO Brandon Kanitz told Crain’s.

Removing the Adrian site’s supply could inch marijuana prices up in the coming months.

Kanitz hopes others in the industry follow suit and throw in the towel by removing unprofitable operations to become smaller companies.

“I think the overhang in inventory will persist into 2025, but supply will continue to come offline and we’ll be in a healthier market going into 2026,” Kanitz said. And there’s the hope of federal rescheduling of marijuana to change it from a Schedule I narcotic to a Schedule III drug, placing it alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency removing marijuana as having “no currently accepted medical use and high potential for abuse” under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 would also free cannabis business-

es from a costly tax code law. Rescheduling marijuana eliminates the IRS Tax Code 280E, which prevents individuals from writing off business expenses involved in the trafficking of narcotics translating to a 70% or sometimes higher effective tax rate for marijuana dispensaries instead of the regular 21% corporate rate. While this largely only impacts marijuana dispensaries, a massive boost in cash by reduced taxes could allow those retailers to buy wholesale marijuana at a higher price, thus buoying the struggling cultivators and processors.

But the ultimate crutch to the industry is the strength of the Michigan marijuana consumer. Despite those low margins, operators sold nearly 35,000 more pounds in marijuana flower and 103,000 ounces more infused liquid in October than in September.

The low prices have created a buyers’ market in the state that recorded a total of $276.4 million in sales in November — or nearly $39 in per capita spending for adults 21 years and older in the state.

Legal marijuana sales in Michigan are averaging nearly $275 million monthly and are on pace to reach $3.3 billion for 2024, up from $3.06 billion in 2023.

“Overall, the Michigan cannabis market in 2025 is poised for continued growth and development,”

Myles Baker, a partner and cannabis attorney at Detroit-based law firm Dickinson Wright, told Crain’s in a statement. “Federal guidance on rescheduling may shake things up nationwide. Competition may intensify leading to a survival of the fittest environment, but with continued growth in sales. We can expect more of the same with some wild card items that can change the landscape of Michigan cannabis going forward.”

Dustin Walsh is a reporter for Crain’s Detroit Business.

Inside Shinola’s store on Monroe Center in Grand Rapids. | KATE CARLSON, CRAIN’S GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS

Connor LaChance of Midland cuts a stem during the harvesting process at the Lume Cannabis Co. production facility in Evart. NIC ANTAyA/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Ritsema Associates moves to ESOP after 70 years

By Mark Sanchez

As the owners at Grandville-based Ritsema Associates began to plan their exit from the business, they turned to an option that would retain local ownership and their legacy: An employee stock ownership plan.

The nearly 70-year-old interiors contractor transitioned its ownership structure to an ESOP in December.

An ESOP quickly became the preferred option for the ownership group at Ritsema Associates, which Herb Ritsema founded in 1955 at the age of 21 as a lathing and plastering company after serving in the U.S. Navy. He later gifted ownership to the next generation.

“Herb always believed in our people and always believed the people are what made us special, so it made sense to look at the op-

portunity to become an ESOP and to make the transaction happen that way,” Ritsema Associates President and CEO Jason Thomas told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.

“You can sell to private equity, you can sell to someone else, or you can dismantle the business, if that’s what you wanted to do, and sell the pieces and parts, but that didn’t really honor our people,”

Thomas said. “The owners really talked about what does the next 70 or 100 years look like. Having that ESOP transaction happen and having the recurring piece of ownership where there are always employee owners in the business … makes it look really attractive for them to say, ‘How does the business grow and carry on?’”

Ritsema Associates began the process of transitioning to an ESOP about a year ago, Thomas said. Specializing in drywall, metal

studs, acoustical ceilings, and flooring, the company employs about 160 people at locations in Grandville, Kalamazoo and Traverse City. Shares in the company were transferred Dec. 6 from its second-generation owners to an ESOP trust, Thomas said.

Over time, the trust will distribute shares in the business to employees beginning with an initial distribution in early 2025, Thomas said. The trust will buy back shares from employees when they retire or leave the company.

“It’s an opportunity for employees to gain ownership in the business and to have a direct impact on their own income from that perspective as far as the retirement income and the appreciation of share value over time,” Thomas said.

ESOPs have become increasingly popular for aging business own-

“You

can sell to private equity, you can sell to someone else, or you can dismantle the business

. . . but that didn’t really honor our people.”

Jason Thomas, president and CEO of

Ritsema Associates

ers seeking an exit.

Across the U.S., more than 6,300 companies have an ESOP and about 250 ESOPs are created annually, according to National Center for Employee Ownership.

ESOP-owned companies collectively employ about 10.7 million private-sector employees.

Gentex promotes longtime tech exec Boehm to COO

Gentex Corp. elevated its chief technology officer to the chief operating officer position as the company invests more in technologies and new products to diversify.

Neil Boehm’s appointment was “a move designed to help better align the company’s business operations with its innovation and product strategies,” the company said in a Jan. 2 announcement.

Boehm has been with Gentex since 2001, starting as a program manager. He has since held a variety of roles in the company with increased responsibilities in product development and engineering.

Gentex promoted Boehm to chief technology officer in 2018 and said that he’s “been central to the development of the company’s expanding product and technology portfolio.” Boehm will continue as chief technology officer while taking on the COO role.

“As an actively expanding technology company with ambitious growth targets, it’s critical that we treat operational excellence with the same focus as we do technology and innovation,” Gentex President and CEO Steve Downing said in a statement. “Neil is an exceptional leader and has a unique blend of technical skills, operational focus, and business acumen. This combination is necessary to guarantee that Gentex operates with a focus on technology adoption and deployment that supports our long-term growth plans and keeps us committed to the high-quality levels our customers expect.”

The Zeeland-based Gentex (Nasdaq: GNTX), known primarily for its auto-dimming automotive mirrors, has been investing to diversify its revenues and product lineup.

The company recently announced a definitive agreement to buy VOXX International Corp., an Orlando, Fla.-based maker of automotive and consumer elec-

tronics in which it holds a minority stake, for $196 million. Under the deal, Voxx International shareholders would receive $7.50 for each share they hold. The acquisition, which is subject to approval by Voxx International shareholders, could

close by the end of the first quarter in 2025.

The company as well recently joined with Grand Rapids-based Michigan Capital Network to participate in a $4.6 million Series B capital round for PhotoniCare Inc.,

a Champaign, Ill.-based firm that developed a new generation otoscope to better diagnose, treat and monitor middle-ear infections.

Gentex also is an investor in Holland-based Jolt Energy Storage Technologies LLC, which recently closed on a $4 million Series A capital round to help bring its lowcost energy storage technology to the market.

In Michigan, the National Center for Employee Ownership counts 197 companies now held by an ESOP that together employ nearly 49,000 people.

In 2022, Certified Employee-Owned LLC, a San Francisco-based company that certifies businesses with ESOPs, ranked Grand Rapids 12th in an inaugural list of the top 25 markets in the U.S. for ESOPs.

“If I was working for someone else, I would want to change jobs and go work for that company if I had an opportunity to own part of it. I am also very proud of the fact that the company will remain named Ritsema Associates,” Herb Ritsema said in a statement on the company’s transition.

Warner Norcross + Judd LLP served as Ritsema Associates’ legal adviser on the transaction, and investment firm Lazear Capital Partners represented the ownership group. Byron Center-based Vision ESOP Valuation LLC also advised on the deal.

To business owners who are planning or considering an exit, an ESOP has tax advantages and “is a great mechanism” to transition ownership, Thomas said.

“It’s a great way to look at perhaps how they’re going to exit the business and leave it with a legacy,” he said.

Two former owners, Bill Ritsema and Wayne Monson, remain with the business in estimating roles, Thomas said.

PEOPLE & COMPANIES ON THE MOVE

Leverage Marketing is pleased to announce Samantha Rutherford’s promotion to Agency Operations Director.

Joining in 2020, Sam has been central in optimizing the agency’s operations and project management capabilities.

Her rise from Client Services Coordinator to Director in just four years demonstrates her versatility and leadership ability.

Her diverse background, including a political science degree and career shift from human resources to marketing, has uniquely equipped her to lead Leverage.

CG Financial Services announces the hiring Scott Hiipakka President and Chief Operating Officer. The appointment comes as the firm, which manages more than $4 billion in client assets, expands its leadership team to drive continued growth and success. He previously served as CEO of the Michigan Israel Business Accelerator, a nonprofit economic development organization that has brought millions of dollars in investment to Michigan. Hiipakka is also a U.S. Army National Guard Major General.

Advisors is pleased to announce the election Emily Paszkowski to the position of Shareholder. With expertise spanning business advisory, accounting, fraud investigation, and litigation support, Emily has become a trusted partner for businesses in manufacturing and distribution, real estate and property management, and professional services. Emily is a passionate problem solver, thriving in challenges that require untangling complexities and crafting creative, efficient solutions. Her dedication extends beyond client engagements—she is committed to fostering a culture of lifelong learning and continuous improvement, inspiring colleagues to innovate and make the firm an even better place to work and grow.

Your Plans recently opened up its second location in Wyoming. Walk Your Plans assists commercial builders, residential builders, architects, designers, landscapers, and homeowners by projecting floor plans and elevations onto their warehouse floor and wall. This allows the plan to be walked in actual scale and adjustments made to the plan before breaking ground. This technology streamlines the planning process and make sure the plan is right before breaking ground.

Neil Boehm

DEVELOPMENT

Cost: $184 million

Estimated completion: 2026

Developer: Grand Action 2.0. (The Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority will own the facility in the future.)

Crews have completed the stage structure of the 12,000-person Acrisure Amphitheater and now are working on installing the massive overhead canopy that’s the size of a football field.

Part of this work includes a large 165,000-pound steel “super truss,” which crews were using on site in early December, said Scott Veine, the project executive.

“Big steel like this hasn’t been done in the city since DeVos Place or the Van Andel Arena, so that’s what we’re constructing, which makes it really exciting,” Veine said. “It’s a huge capstone and milestone in our construction industry, and it’s pretty fun and an honor to be part of that.”

Work is also about 75% complete on building the sloped berm for lawn seating at the venue. Crews also are erecting steel for the concessions building on the south end of the site. Contractors are building foundations for back-of-house operations at the venue that will include a green room, dressing rooms and a bar/lounge area for talent. Work is also underway on foundations for the onsite parking deck.

“It’s a complex site. We had a lot of geotechnical stabilization that we had to do,” Veine said. “We planned for that, but it took longer than we anticipated, but we did recover our schedule.”

An average of 160 people work on the Acrisure Amphitheater site every day, and the crew should almost double by spring 2025. From a “community impact” perspective, the thousands of work hours construction crews put into a project the size of the amphitheater can sometimes get overlooked, Veine said.

“It’s a massive amount of labor and skilled trade that goes into doing what we do,” Veine said. “We all have a mission in mind and that’s to change Grand Rapids and to build this iconic structure.”

Hackley Castle

Location: 349 W. Webster Ave., Muskegon

Architect: Hooker DeJong Inc. Construction manager: Coalition

Companies has been managing the pre-construction phase

Cost: $15 million

Completion: The end of 2025 through April 2026

Developer: WheelFish Group of Muskegon

Interior demolition work has wrapped up at the historic Hackley building in downtown Muskegon, which WheelFish Group plans to turn into a boutique hotel called Hackley Castle.

The developer is finalizing construction drawings for the 48-room boutique hotel that will showcase the history of the building.

“The most exciting part of it for us is we think we found an end use that will ultimately preserve the building in perpetuity,” said Frank Peterson, vice president of operations at WheelFish Group.

Ultimately, the project aims to let people learn about the history of Muskegon and one of its most iconic buildings, he said.

The Hackley building was constructed in 1892 with money donated by philanthropist Charles Hackley and most recently served as Muskegon Public Schools’ administration offices. The three-story building, which has a footprint of about 11,500 square feet, has been vacant since 2021.

Early plans for Hackley Castle call for small-scale retail like a spa and a speakeasy-type bar with a small kitchen.

WheelFish aims to get the hotel up and running first, but phase two of the project could include adding a glass conservatory to the building that could be used for corporate events and weddings, Peterson said. The new heating and cooling system crews are installing for the main building will accommodate the addition, which would have a capacity of 250-300 people.

The renovation of the historic building so far has been a positive experience, Peterson said. It will likely end up being a higher-end hotel, but the development team hopes to open the hotel in the off-season and give local residents a chance to stay in it first, if possible, he said.

“We think we’re building something great that probably can generate a very specific group of travelers. But at the same time, we need to be cognizant that what we’re doing is reasonably attainable at times,” Peterson said.

“There is a huge interest of local folks who want to book a room here, which drove our decision to open it in the off season and let people get in here and test it out.”

Duthler’s mixed-use project

Location: 648 Bridge St. NW and 345 Lexington Ave. NW, Grand Rapids

Architect: Pinnacle Construction

Construction manager: Pinnacle

Construction

Cost: $31 million

Completion: Summer 2026

Developer: Talbot Development

Demolition started at the former Duthler’s Family Foods store on Bridge Street at the beginning of December to make way for a new 148-unit mixed-use development.

“The classic young professional slice of the market I think will be very attracted to this,” Ryan Talbot, owner of Talbot Development, said during a Dec. 10 Michigan Strategic Fund board meeting. Talbot expects people who want to have a “walkable lifestyle” to be drawn to the project.

The Michigan Strategic Fund board voted Dec. 10 to approve a nearly $6 million state-backed loan and up to $2.2 million in tax incentives for the project, which was the final financing piece of the project Talbot was awaiting before breaking ground.

“There is a well-documented housing shortage here, but the city top-to-bottom is aligned to getting … projects like this done,” Talbot said. “We’re bringing a lot of density and a lot of new heads in beds to this Bridge Street corridor, where you can walk to some of the best shops and restaurants and grocery stores in Grand Rapids.”

The project should take about 18-20 months to build and is expected to open in the summer of

move uncertainty for cash buyers, prompting some people who were awaiting the outcome to pull the trigger now that it’s over.

“reasonable” prices of Lake Michigan real estate and coming from the South, Midwest and West Coast to snap up homes, especially given lower lake levels. She expects that will continue this year.

“I think we’re just kind of that ‘gold coast,’” she said. “It’s just a very desirable area, and more and more people are finding out about it.”

Sisson also said the outcome of the presidential election may re-

Redfin noted the market is shifting from a strong seller’s market to one in which buyers and sellers have more balanced power, as more supply emerges. Sisson said this may result in price reductions. Whereas sellers have been “testing the waters” at the highest price since the pandemic, they may not be able to command their initial ask now. She also expects some homes to stay on the market longer amid more supply.

Andrea Crossman, a Realtor and owner of Andrea Crossman Group/Coldwell Banker Woodland Schmidt in Holland, said she has an “overall very good” outlook for 2025, as upper price-tier buyers are coming off a “long run” of the stock market doing well. She said a mix of factors are playing into the desirability of West Michigan’s luxury and vacation properties.

“On the lakeshore, there’s just so much good stuff for the getting … (that) we’re getting people from all across the country that understand what West Michigan has to offer,”

2026. The building is designed to be all-electric and LEED Gold equivalent.

The developer projects rents will range from $1,299 per month for studio units to $2,499 per month for a two-bedroom unit. The rates range between 80% and 120% of the area median income for Kent County.

Talbot Development is working with the same incentive stack, development team and lending partner — Lake Michigan Credit Union — that the company used for the recently completed 72-unit mixed-use apartment project called The Current in the city’s Creston neighborhood.

Talbot described it as a “wash, rinse and repeat” strategy for the company.

Lofts at Ironworks

Location: 203 N. Rose St., Kalamazoo

Architect: Bosch Architecture serves as the architect for the apartments. Elite Companies is designing the restaurant space.

Construction manager: Construction Simplified of Grand Rapids

Cost: $32.7 million

Completion: Late summer 2025

Developer: Ironworks 39 LLC, an entity tied to PlazaCorp Realty Advisors of Kalamazoo

PlazaCorp is turning the former Iron Works office building in downtown Kalamazoo into a mixed-use apartment project with a Bobcat Bonnie’s restaurant planned for the ground floor of one of the three buildings on site.

“We’re looking to make this a catalyst for foot traffic,” said Trisha

she said. “And there’s also some good things on the horizon for the downtown Holland area (and other towns’) expansions,” she said, referring to planned waterfront redevelopments in Holland, Grand Haven and Port Sheldon Township. She noted as towns build out their cultural and entertainment offerings, their lakefront real estate becomes more desirable.

Crossman added 100 feet of Lake Michigan frontage still commands “quite a bit” higher prices than the same amount of inland lake access.

Sandi Gentry, Realtor and own-

Kidd, director of project management for PlazaCorp. “We noticed a need for repurposing office buildings that are vacant. This (project) is going to be amazing with beautiful loft-style apartments, which will be charming and different in each building.”

The project will include a mix of classic and new architecture, given plans to build a three-story addition for 35 apartments at one of the buildings. All together, the project will feature 82 units, primarily made up of one-bedroom apartments. Forty percent of the units will be priced in the 80-120% area median income (AMI) range for Kalamazoo County, three units will be priced at 60% AMI and the rest of the units will be market rate.

PlazaCorp likes to take on adaptive reuse projects to salvage existing buildings, but it does come with extra challenges, Kidd said.

“With these older buildings, you have to build it specific to the shape of the property, which is our niche and why we like to do it too. (We) take something complex and turn it into something that can be enjoyed,” Kidd said.

The oldest building on the project site is on the National Register of Historic Places and was commissioned by William S. Lawrence and Dr. L.C. Chapin for their manufacturing company, Lawrence & Chapin Iron Works. It was constructed between 1870 and 1872. Later additions were built in the late 1800s and again in the mid1900s.

The building and its additions housed Vermeulen’s Furniture through the 1990s and later became the administrative offices for First of America Bank as part of

er of the Sandi Gentry Team of Re/ Max Lakeshore in Grand Haven, said she is feeling “totally positive” about the luxury lakeshore market heading into 2025.

“I’m feeling very good,” she said. “It’s just about having the right product. I do feel like the buyers are out there, but the right product is (important).”

Gentry echoed what others said about an upward trend in price cuts, especially for homes that haven’t been updated.

Crossman said she’s noticed a trend of high-end buyers looking for “instant gratification,” mean-

The Fulton & Market project calls for three high-rise towers along the Grand River. | PROGRESSIVE COMPANIES

the larger Arcadia Commons development corridor.

111 Lyon office-toresidential conversion

Location: 111 Lyon St. NW, Grand Rapids

Architect: Integrated Architecture

Construction manager: Orion Construction

Cost: $35 million in construction costs, $65 million including the value of the existing building

Completion: Spring 2026

Developer: CWD Real Estate

Investment LLC

CWD Real Estate Investment LLC, owned by Sam Cummings, Scott Wierda and Dan DeVos, aims to break ground this month on a massive residential conversion project at the Fifth Third Bank office building in downtown Grand Rapids.

The prominent Grand Rapids commercial landlord plans to turn the 95,025-square-foot office building into 140 residential units. The makeup would include one- and two-bedroom units.

“The floor plates line up near perfectly for a residential conversion. We’ve got about 20 apartments per floor and they are really cool, with floor-to-ceiling glass,” Cummings said. “We’re planning amazing amenities in the building with convenience and incredible security. What we’re after is urban amenities, suburban convenience and the ability to park onsite and accessibility of being located in the core of downtown.”

The project makes use of 2023 changes to state law that allowed “housing development activities” to be eligible for brownfield capture. The city approved the brownfield plan estimated to be worth $15.2 million in April 2024.

“It’s been a while since we’ve done a project at this scale, and it’s fun to be a leader,” Cummings said. “I don’t know how many cities are doing significant office-to-residential conversions, but it’s super fun to do this kind of thing. We like challenging projects like this that add value to our community and are good investments.”

Fifth Third will remain a tenant in the building and is also acting as the lending partner for the project, Cummings said.

Fulton & Market

Location: 63 Market Ave. SW

ing they’ll pay a premium for turnkey homes.

“Most of them are not interested in fixing (houses) up, unless it’s such a special piece of property,” she said.

Gentry said that after the election was over, clients who had previously held off started to feel “more comfortable” with putting their home on the market, leading to a general feeling that inventory will pick up in 2025.

“On Nov. 6, my phone started ringing off the hook,” she said.

Still, brokers agreed they don’t expect to see a return to the sales

Architect: Progressive Companies is the pre-construction architect

Construction manager: TBD

Cost: $797 million

Completion: Spring 2029, estimated

Developer: Fulmar Property Holdings LLC, tied to DeVos and Van Andel families

The DeVos and Van Andel families are joining together to develop the former Charley’s Crab site along the Grand River into a massive downtown mixeduse project featuring three towers.

Plans for the Fulton & Market project call for office space, retail, 76 luxury condo units, 595 apartment units, a 130-room hotel and two parking decks with 2,510 spaces.

Construction on the development could begin at the end of 2025 and will be completed in phases starting in fall 2028. The best-case scenario has project completion taking place in spring 2029, said Joe Agostinelli, managing director of Michigan Growth Advisors, which is advising the development team.

The partners anticipate the Michigan Strategic Fund board will consider a Transformational Brownfield Plan for the project worth $565.5 million at its February meeting.

“Once the incentives are approved, that gets us to a point where we have a financially viable project and that’s when the investment starts to wrap up into that final design stage,” Agostinelli said. The project then will start going out to bid and engage with a general contractor, he said.

“Each domino has to fall before the next one,” Agostinelli said. “The main hurdle is getting the incentive package approved, which gives the team some confidence in the project.”

The Grand Rapids City Commission approved the project’s transformational brownfield plan at its Dec. 3 meeting, despite some community opposition.

The project is “transformational by any definition of the word,” Agostinelli said. “Taking a wildly underutilized piece of real estate and putting 1.2 million square feet of vibrant, dense development is exciting, and it’s one the team is clearly excited about continuing to move forward as plans continue to solidify. We remain excited.”

volumes and home prices of peak years like 2021 and 2022. Those COVID-19 pandemic years saw a “trifecta” of low interest rates, decent inventory and people looking to “get out of metropolitan areas,” Sisson said.

Crossman said her team had a record year in 2021, closing about $154 million in sales, but she doesn’t expect to do anywhere near that volume in 2025.

“In the last two years, it’s leveled off with my team to about $100 million. That’s still a good, healthy number,” just not a “boom” year, she said.

VANGESSEL

From Page 1

goals, building our clients’ dreams and creating lasting impact in our community has truly been the honor of my life. I am pleased to have Shane and his team take the mantle and operate with the needed passion and intensity to serve our team, win work and satisfy our clients now and in the future.”

VanGessel, 60, plans to stay engaged with Rockford as a real estate investor, and plans to focus on building VanGessel Investments, which his family founded in 2019.

“We are confident that we have set the stage well for the next chapter in Rockford’s success story,” VanGessel said.

Rockford Construction has played a role in numerous large developments in Grand Rapids, including leading the construction of the $175 million Amway Stadium project under a joint venture with Indianapolis, Ind.-based firm AECOM Hunt. The soccer stadium, which will host Michigan’s first MLS NEXT Pro team, is set to break ground in spring 2025 and wrap up in 2027.

“As a powerhouse of regional development, construction, and property management, Rockford is a testament to Mike’s talent and his true grit,” Napper said in a statement. “What we build from here will be made possible by a group of exemplary leaders that I have the privilege of partnering with, by the diverse talents of our highly skilled team and by our clients and community stakeholders who have always been central to the Rockford story.”

Rockford has completed more than 7,000 projects totaling nearly $9 billion under VanGessel’s leadership, including downtown revitalization projects on Monroe Center such as the Peck Building,

WHITEWATER

From Page 3

Securing the state permit was a key hurdle the city and Grand Rapids WhiteWater needed to clear after 15 years of work on the project. The state issued the permit for a revised plan after previously rejecting the original proposal to restore the river’s rapids. The city submitted the revised plan in May.

“It’s certainly been a lot of work and a lot of challenges, and from the city and WhiteWater and many private-sector donors and supporters, a lot of people have poured a lot of heart and soul into this and it’s really good to be here now,” Chapman said. “We have a design that will bring rapids back and bring white water back and, hopefully, more people will be out using the river in the next couple of years.”

A design team continues to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service on the final approval of a Watershed Project Plan-Environmental Assessment that will determine the level of federal funding for the project on

Grand Rapids Police Department headquarters, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Front Row Condominiums, Steketee’s/Blue Cross Blue Shield, and The Morton.

Rockford also built the JW Marriott Grand Rapids along the Grand River and MSU Grand Rapids Innovation Park, and helped establish the downtown Arena District with Cherry Street Landing, Heart of West Michigan United Way, a Western Michigan University satellite campus and Studio Park.

As well, Rockford helped spur a wave of redevelopment on Grand Rapids’ west side after it relocated its headquarters to 601 First St. NW as part of the multimillion-dollar Gateway Project in the early 2010s. Other nearby projects that Rockford invested in or constructed include Barley Flats, a mixed-use project with New Holland Brewing Co.’s The Knickerbocker taproom; The Hendrik, a mixed-use project featuring Meijer’s small-format Bridge Street Market store; and Fulton Place.

Rockford also led the restoration of the D.A. Blodgett Home for Children in the East Hills neighborhood.

the river’s lower reach. A final decision from the Natural Resources Conservation Service is expected in the spring.

The city and Grand Rapids WhiteWater held off the review process for the river’s upper reach to focus on the lower reach and secure regulatory approval for restoring the rapids first on a stretch of river that runs through downtown.

“We had to essentially put all of the plans for the upper reaches on hold because we wanted to make sure whatever’s built on the lower reach does not impact the ability to build one of the potential alternatives in the upper reach,” Chap-

“Mike set a high bar for our team and what we deliver for our clients,” Napper said. “The question he always challenged us to ask was ‘How can we best serve our clients and community?’ As a result, we have seen tremendous growth and diversification under Mike’s leadership. We have also built a rock-solid executive team who will lead us into the future. I look forward to working with these talented leaders and our entire team to build on Mike’s legacy and continue to deliver outstanding results for our clients.”

In addition to Rockford’s Grand Rapids headquarters, the firm also has offices in Detroit and Estero, Fla.

VanGessel co-founded Rockford Construction in 1987 with John Wheeler, who sold his shares in 2009 and continued in the real estate development industry at Orion Real Estate Solutions, which later rebranded to WDG. Rockford Construction ranks as the largest construction firm in West Michigan, with $522.41 million in revenue in the region in 2023, a 20% increase from $435 million in 2022, according to Crain’s research.

man said. “Now we’ll have the hydraulic models and the design plans for the lower reach and that will all be incorporated into the planning for the upper reach.”

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission, working with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, will serve as the lead regulatory agency on the review and make the ultimate decision on the project for the upper reach, he said.

In the upcoming process, the city and Grand Rapids WhiteWater will “take everything that we’ve learned about the lower reach and what we know about the river and apply that to that process,” Chapman said.

Shane Napper took over Jan. 1 as CEO of Rockford Construction. COurTESy PHOTO

can charge customers for grid investments, such as new power plants, and earn a rate of return on those investments.

“Those are the things we’re going to want to look at in what utilities propose as tariffs so we’re not left holding the bag if the anticipated demand doesn’t show up or ultimately stays shorter than expected,” he said.

Legislation that Whitmer signed on Dec. 30 creating tax exemptions for large “enterprise” data centers gives companies three electricity-related options to qualify: build on-site power, secure a long-term contract with a utility, or participate in a utility voluntary “green” power pricing program. Data centers must invest at least $250 million to qualify for the exemptions.

Scripps said long-term contracts are most likely, although in similar agreements with large manufacturing projects, such deals may end early with an exit fee.

Douglas Jester, managing partner at 5 Lakes Energy who routinely participates in rate cases before the MPSC, shares Scripps’ concerns. Michigan is competing with dozens of other states to attract data centers, as evidenced by the tax exemption legislation Whitmer signed.

“I think that they’re not going to build a data center in every place they’re exploring it,” Jester said. “If

RESIDENTIAL

From Page 6

and the rest by 2026.

“This isn’t the magic pill that’s going to make housing easy to build and affordable to all of us; however, it’s a beginning,” said Michelle McIsaac, Mel Trotter’s chief strategy officer.

Shaw Walker

Number of units: 538

Location: 930 Washington Ave. in Muskegon

Developer: Parkland Properties

Architect: Grand Rapids-based Ghafari Associates

General contractor: Cleveland, Ohio-based The Albert M. Higley Co.

Cost: $220 million, supported by an $18 million state budget

earmark in 2023

Estimated completion: 2028 or 2029

A West Michigan developer last summer was cleared to finish the

REVERSAL

From Page 1

identities have not yet been publicized) appear to have disagreed with their colleagues,” Varnum attorneys wrote.

“The Government must now decide whether to seek relief from the United States Supreme Court, which may ultimately determine the fate of the CTA,” Varnum wrote.

you build a whole power plant anticipating that Microsoft comes to town, then other customers are left holding the bag in the current regulatory scheme. Utilities ought not build power plants and the MPSC ought not approve them unless there’s a contract.”

Based on conversations with large utilities and the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Scripps said he is aware of potential plans for large-scale data centers that would be “multiples of the largest single installation in the state, and we could get a number of those. It’s bigger in scale for even what we have in our manufacturing sector.”

“Clearly if you add multiple gigawatts of demand to the system, you’re going to need additional infrastructure built to meet demand,” Scripps said. “I think it creates some challenges, but I don’t think it’s an insurmountable challenge.”

Officials with Jackson-based Consumers Energy declined to disclose how much total capacity the investor-owned utility has received related to inquiries about data centers.

In an Oct. 31 quarterly earnings call with brokerage analysts, Consumers President and CEO Garrick Rochow said the company works “closely with data centers and other manufacturing customers to meet their timeline for the ramp-up and load, and so that makes us advantageous to locate a data center.”

He also noted that the company

redevelopment of a blighted former furniture factory in Muskegon — a project that was started long ago by another developer but never finished.

Jon Rooks, of Parkland Properties, received Muskegon City Commission approval in July for his plans to transform the 730,000-square-foot vacant former Shaw Walker Furniture Co. facility into 432 “workforce” apartments for households earning 80% to 140% of AMI, 37 townhomes and 69 luxury condominiums.

Previous ownership in the early 2000s developed the 55-unit Watermark Condominiums, The Coffee Factory restaurant and 920 Event Center on the site after the factory closed in 1989, but the rest was left to languish.

Parkland began selective demolition and abatement work for the project in August and plans to start construction this year.

The development also will include a parking deck, 24,000 square feet of retail space, and a

The day-after-Christmas order is the latest turn in the legal battle over the Corporate Transparency Act, which business advocates have claimed is unconstitutional.

The law would require companies to report their ownership to the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a requirement that business advocates say would be costly and burdensome.

The law exempts privately owned

has received MPSC approval to move data centers to a special electric rate “that’s a better reflection of the cost to serve, and we are working collaboratively with the commission to see if another rate structure is needed for data centers that would ensure our residential customers are not left subsidizing data centers.”

In responding to analysts, Rochow said Consumers Energy currently has excess capacity to serve more data centers over the next two years.

Consumers spokesperson Katie Carey noted that Michigan energy laws requiring in-depth, long-term planning known as integrated resource planning help ensure that any investments in new generation would benefit all customers.

“Consumers Energy is committed to protecting our customers from potential stranded costs associated with data centers,” Carey told Crain’s via email. “We are proactively ensuring that financial responsibility for infrastructure investments is appropriately allocated to data centers. Our priority is to maintain fair and equitable rates for all customers.”

Michigan is far from alone in needing to protect against stranded costs. In Ohio, utility AEP — along with consumer advocates, large industrial companies and tech giants — reached an agreement in late October that would require new data centers larger than 25 megawatts to pay for at least 85% of the power they expect to need each month. Even if they didn’t end up needing

rooftop pool, jacuzzi, sundecks and clubhouses.

Terra Station

Number of units: 141

Location: 3302 Prospect St. in Hudsonville

Developer/general contractor: Veneklasen Construction

Architect: Integrated Architecture

Cost: $32 million, supported by $4.3 million in state brownfield TIF reimbursements, a $1.5 million Revitalization and Placemaking grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and a commercial rehabilitation district tax exemption from the city

Estimated completion: Fall 2026

Veneklasen was one of several developers who answered the call when the city of Hudsonville put out a request for proposals for a 4-acre site that formerly housed a farmer’s co-op.

The city was looking for proposals that would help it create a

businesses that have more than 20 full-time employees and more than $5 million in annual sales from the reporting requirements.

On Dec. 3, a federal district court in Texas issued a preliminary injunction barring the federal government from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Dec. 23 order reinstating the law came as a “gut punch” to business groups, including in Michigan,

that much power, the agreement would help ensure other customers don’t foot the bill for infrastructure investments.

AEP subsidiary Indiana Michigan Power, which has about 130,000 customers in Southwest Michigan, reached a similar agreement last month in Indiana to make sure grid investments are “reasonably recovered from the customer, and not passed on to existing customers,” the utility said.

Amazon, Google and Microsoft are reportedly in the process of building a combined $14 billion in data centers in Indiana alone, and Indiana Michigan Power expects its peak power demand to double from 4,000 MW to 8,000 MW by 2030, Utility Dive reported.

Compared to states like Illinois, California and Virginia, Michigan is a relative newcomer to hyperscale data center build outs. Most recently, Microsoft has acquired hundreds of acres of vacant land in Kent and Allegan counties as it explores the potential for data centers there.

Jester sees that newcomer status as an advantage, particularly when it comes to preparing the power grid.

“I think a lot of places have gotten this wrong, they got over their skis and were so focused on attracting data centers,” he said. “I think the advantage for Michigan is to see how that’s played out in other states and to bring the benefits of data center load but provide some additional protections against stranded costs.”

dense, walkable downtown as envisioned by its Imagine Hudsonville 2030 master plan, and Veneklasen’s proposal for Terra Station fit the bill.

The mixed-use project will include six buildings, one of which will be commercial. The residential component will add 36 studio, 59 one-bedroom and 46 two-bedroom units, ranging from about 400 to 882 square feet. Thirty-five of the units will be reserved for households making 80% to 95% of area median income.

The development will include 202 parking spaces, including 58 covered spaces, and will attach to an existing bike path. Terra Station will have a bicycle service station, as well as six electric-vehicle charging spaces.

The name “Terra Station” is a nod to the city-owned and operated Terra Square development, Veneklasen said. The mixed-use, indoor-outdoor farmers market and event space is located at 2280 Chicago Drive, just west of the future Terra Station.

where the Small Business Association of Michigan has filed one of several lawsuits challenging the law.

Honigman also noted in its Dec. 27 alert that FinCEN has not provided guidance on the pause in complying with the reporting requirements, “however, based on guidance from earlier this week we expect FinCEN to at least provide a limited extension of the reporting deadlines should the injunction be lifted.”

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